you are asking a question that only you can answer. i would suggest that you ask yourself some questions, for example:

why did i become a nurse?
why do i show up at all?
who am i really serving with my practice?
if i died today, have i been the nurse my patients needed?
*there are plenty more*
but the final question is:
what am i going to do about it?
get used to it. get away from it. get on top of it. or just enjoy the holidays and re-address it later.
been there (i think)
you'll figure it out.

Last edit by nurseguy55 on Dec 9, '06

Dec 7, '06

Hi, BarbaraOne.
I, too, am experiencing burn out from nursing for so long.
Long, long story but have been in nursing for a bit over twenty years, so far. It has affected my body physically and my mind psychologically to the point that I have made the huge decision to at least try another job for a while and see just how much I miss nursing if at all. Who knows? It may lead to another different career altogether different and I may feel like I've been reborn to a new and better life??!! That is what I'm hoping anyway.
Have an interview tomorrow at a doggy day care center. Part time. Now if playing and romping with dogs as a job isn't my cup of tea, I don't know what is! I cannot wait to meet the furry critters and see the facility.
I lost my GSD back in July she had to be euthanized. Waiting for the time I have enough money to support another mouth to be fed. They generally need the higher end of the spectrum in dog food due to the needs of the breed. (GSD=German Shepherd Dog).
So, yes, I can definitely empathize.
I will, of course, need to financially put something else together with this part time "fun" job to make ends meet, probably more nursing but in a prn capacity through agency work.
But am looking forward to the different job environment.
Good Luck!

Dec 9, '06

I am 50 nursing since 1976 LPN at first then an RN and the got my degree in 2000. I have feelings of burn out that come and go. I still love being a nurse. I get a lot of personal cards from former patients, which are wonderful to get. I love making the smallist of difference. I like to make my patient laugh or a family member laugh. Most of my frustration comes from working with people who do not do there part. You can't do your job well and the try to fix all the other problems. But, the patient is not yours and they are uncomfortable and you are cought. So while that nurse is gone on their break you slip in and clean up their patient, and then you are mad. If I end up doing that which I do, I say to myself I am doing it for the care of another human being I am not doing it for them. I hope from my actions the other nurse gets the message, and if they don't, I still did it for the patient and not them. I am also begining to realize close to my retirement that primary care nursing is a failure, I started nursing under the team model, which had its problems, but we got the work done, nobody worked alone, and we seemed to laugh a lot, and perhaps that was just being young. Team nursing you never made a bed by yourself, you washed patients togeather and the work of the day was done early giving lots of time for charting and being with the patient and family teaching them this and that.

Dec 15, '06

We all have days when we forget why we wanted to be a nurse. It's usually the crazy, busy crappy days where you don't get a lunch, end up working over because someone called in, and have an aggravating patient/ family. The good news is that there are so many avenues for nursing you are bound to find something that will work for you.

Dec 16, '06

You are wise to seek support as you have.
Try to make the best of where you are, but keep looking @ the next step. Just preparing for a new area of nursing to move to will give you perspective. Try to avoid burning bridges if you can, the recommendations of the people you work with and for will build your resume.
Whine only to to trusted friends, don't make it a lifestyle.
Avoid the sympathetic martyr thing, it is epidemic in this field. Hanging yourself on a cross and hoping for support will eventually make you angry, nobody notices and it diminishes you. The nurses I respect quietly perform their work, keep learning and only dig their heels in on rare occasion (for issues that have weight).